Fascinating facts
about Steve Wozniak
inventor of the Personal Computer in 1977.

Steve
Wozniak

Inventor:

Stephen
Gary Wozniak (aka "Woz")

Criteria:

First practical. Entrepreneur.

Birth:

August 11,
1950 in San Jose, California

Nationality:

American

Steve Jobs and
Steve Wozniak made a natural team inventing the first ready-made personal computer. To
Wozniak's engineering talent, Jobs added ingenuity and marketing instincts, the
ingredients that tuned Apple into a billion-dollar company.

When the two first met,
Wozniak (born August 11,1950) was 18, Jobs (born 1955) only 13. The pair put their electronics and
inventing talents to work making unusual devices, and a few years later purchased a $25
microprocessor with the intention of building a computer. Although this first computer was
crude and came without memory, a power supply or even a keyboard, it was very reliable.
Jobs and Wozniak decided on a name that would convey the simplicity of the product's
design and use: the Apple.

Jobs had a passionate belief in bringing computer technology to everyone. So in 1977,
Jobs and Wozniak started a company to build and distribute their invention. In true
American-dream fashion, their company began in a garage.

To finance their venture, Jobs sold his Volkswagen van and Wozniak sold his
programmable calculator to raise $1,300. Weeks later, Jobs secured the company's first
sale: 50 Apple I computers at $666 each. In a mere six years, Apple was listed in the
Fortune 500, becoming the youngest firm on this prestigious list.

TO LEARN MORE

RELATED INFORMATION:The Entrepreneurfrom The Great Idea FinderInvention of the Personal
Computer from The Great Idea
Finder Steve Jobs Biography from The Great Idea FinderHistory of Computing from The Great
Idea FinderON THE BOOKSHELF:
iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal
Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It
by Steve Wozniak, Gina Smith / Hardcover: 288 pages / W. W. Norton
(September 25, 2006)
In 1975, a young engineering wizard named Steve Wozniak had an idea:
What if you combined computer circuitry with a regular typewriter
keyboard and a video screen? The result was the first true personal
computer, the Apple I, a widely affordable machine that anyone could
understand and figure out how to use.Steve
Wozniak, Inventor of the Apple Computer
by Martha E. Kendall / Paperback: 112 pages / Highland Pub Group, 2nd Rev
edition (2000) Provides detailed information about his early years, his collaboration with Steve
Jobs and the creation of the first Apple computers in Jobs' garage, Wozniak's decision to
"retire" from Apple, his philanthropy, and his many hobbies. Stephen Wozniak and the Story of Apple Computer
by John Riddle, Jim Whiting / Library Binding: 48 pages / Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc.(
2001) Apple Computer grew quickly from those first days in Jobs' garage to a very large
company that neither man had envisioned. Woz was largely credited for the successful Apple
II. At some point in time, the job stopped being fun and in 1985, Woz left Apple Computer
for good. Steve Wozniak: A Wizard Called Woz
by Rebecca Gold / Library Binding: 72 pages / Lerner Publications Company (September 1994)
The technical information about the inside workings of a computer is written simply
enough for even a computer-illiterate youngster, and the upbeat and readable text is
accompanied by appealing full-color and black-and-white photographs. Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer
by Paul Freiberger, Michael Swaine / Paperback: 463 pages / McGraw Hill Text 2nd edition
(1999)What sets Fire in the Valley apart from the many other books about early days at
Apple and Microsoft, though, is its focus on the brilliant engineers and coders who built
the foundation that would eventually support those two companies.

ON THE WEB:National Inventors Hall
of Fame
Steve Wozniak was inducted in 2000 for Microcomputer for Use with Video Display Personal
Computer (Patent Number 4,136,359).
URL: www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/155.html)Invention Dimension - Inventor of the Week
Steve Woznaik was featured June, 1996 for his invention of the Personal Computer.
(URL: web.mit.edu/invent/iow/apple.html)An
interview by the Tech Museum of Innovation
Pretty much my teaching is just a hobby to teach them the guts and the innards of
computers - not the normal things that you would call computer literacy.
(URL: www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/revolution/wozniak/i_a.html)Steve Woznaik
Official Web site for "WOZ" information. Links to everything.
(URL: www.woz.org/)Wozniak BiographyBelieve in encouraging free thinking and creativity for youngsters, counsel them
against forces of conformity and drugs which leave them "not the master" of
their fate.(URL: www.woz.org/wozscape/wozbio.html)WIZARD OF WOZ
Apple's Steve Wozniak is reprogrammed--as a grade-school teacher. Article from People
Magazine, Pages 61-62, February 14, 1994(URL: www.woz.org/pages/wozscape/Articles/WizardofWoz/WizardofWoz.html)Steve Wozniak
Launches New Technology Venture
Los Gatos, California, January 23, 2002- Steve Wozniak, the technical visionary and
co-founder of Apple Computer, announced today the launch of Wheels of Zeus (wOz), a new
company focused on designing new consumer electronics wireless products to help everyday
people track everyday things.
(URL: www.woz.com/press/012302.html)Interview
with SlashdotIf you consider attractiveness and other external qualities, you can't find any
hardware that comes close to Apple's.
(URL: slashdot.org/interviews/00/01/07/1124211.shtml)

WORDS OF WISDOM:"Even if we lose our money, at least we had a
company." - Steve Woznaik

"I also like to ride Segways. How much fun that is! Anybody think that's
fun? I hope so... There's an awful lot of people in the world that sneer
at Segways because other people are having fun. There must be something
bad about it. But I always tell people, that hey, these Segways are so
environmentally conscious. I carry four of them in the trunk of my
Hummer." - Steve Woznaik, 2004

DID YOU KNOW?

Steve was
awarded the National Medal of Technology by the President of the
United States in 1985, the highest honor bestowed America's leading
innovators.

In 2000 Steve
was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and was awarded the
prestigious Heinz Award for Technology,

One of
Woznaik's companies is named AppleSauce

On January
23, 1979, patent #
4,136,359 issued to Steve Wozniak for a microcomputer

Reference Sources in BOLD Type

This page revised
October 17, 2006.

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